Sean Sothern, an off-duty Portland police officer accused of drunken driving and trying to elude police, had a blood-alcohol content of .137 more than four hours after his Aug. 18 arrest. Sothern refused a breath test, but authorities got a warrant for a blood draw, Tillamook County Sheriff's office reports show.

Sothern, 38, and his wife were stopped after leaving the Sportsman's Bar in Pacific City after midnight. They had been camping at Cape Kiwanda RV Park and had left four children in their RV when they went to a bar for two beers, Sothern told authorities.

"My client is not guilty of the charges they brought against him,'' said Sothern's lawyer, James McIntyre. McIntyre said he did not know how old the children in the camper were, but they were unharmed and he believed one had a babysitting certificate.

A sheriff's deputy observed Sothern and his wife, Kari Sothern, having difficulty walking straight and stumbling near the Sportsman's Bar in Pacific City about 12:30 a.m.

The deputy watched them get into a Ford Excursion and activated his emergency lights, attempting to stop the sports utility vehicle after it failed to signal a right turn and drifted between lanes. According to the sheriff's office report, Sothern pulled into the lot of Cape Kiwanda RV Park, turned off his headlights and "gunned'' his engine.

When Tillamook County Sheriff's Deputy Cody D. Anderson approached, Sothern looked for his license in a card holder. Anderson noticed an ID card that resembled a law enforcement identification card and a law enforcement patch. Sothern then pulled out his wallet and handed over his driver's license. Anderson detected a strong odor of alcohol on Sothern and described him as acting slow, uncoordinated, his face flushed, eyes red and glassy.

When asked to step out of the vehicle, Sothern first said, "Ok,'' but didn't move. When Anderson asked again, Sothern responded, "Is there something going on?'' Finally, Sothern said, "I don't want to do that.''

Anderson called for back up and told Sothern to stay inside his vehicle. While waiting for a cover officer, Kari Sothern got out of the vehicle several times, despite Anderson's requests to stay put, Anderson wrote. When Andesron caught up with her and told her she'd be arrested for interfering, Sothern turned his high-beam headlights on and began honking his horn, the report said. The park's security gaurd asked Sothern to stop honking to avoid disturbing other campers.

Kari Sothern told the deputy she wanted to check on her children in the camper. "I asked her who was watching the children, but did not get a response,'' Anderson wrote.

When she left the car a third time, Anderson cuffed her and placed her in the back seat of his patrol car. At that point, her husband gave the deputy his Portland police ID, asked to have a "normal conversation'' with the deputy and questioned why his wife couldn't leave.

Anderson said it was for "officer safety reasons,'' not knowing what she might retrieve in the camper.

"Where I am a police officer, any single pesron in this car could get out and walk away without penalty,'' Sothern told the deputy, according to the officer's report, based on a digital recording of the encounter.

Sothern explained, "We have four kids sleeping right now. We went out and had two beers at the Sportsman's Bar.''

Two state troopers arrived and gave Kari Sothern, described as very intoxicated, a ride to her campsite as the driver was arrested, the report said.

The children sleeping in the camper ranged in age from 6 to 11.

"At the campsite, the Troopers verified the young children were not in any danger,'' the report said.